NHL 2K9 (Wii version)
Hockey and Nintendo fans everywhere rejoice, because for the first time in three years (Not counting the abysmal Backyard Hockey for DS) an NHL game has finally come to a Nintendo console! It’s already been out in North America since September 8th, but it only came out over here in Europe on November 14th, despite all other versions of the game being released before it.
This game is notable for being the first NHL game to come out on a Nintendo console since EA Sports’ NHL 06, the last time I purchased an NHL game, so expect to see a few comparisons to that while reading this view, and don’t expect any EA VS 2K flaming.
Presentation
Let me say first of all that the instruction manual sucks. Unlike many other games, all you get is a list of all the controls except for face-offs, making that quite difficult to learn. Afterwards, all you have left is a very brief description of the menus and game modes, and that’s it.
When you load up the game for the first time, you’re asked to enter a name with an on-screen keyboard. With this being a Wii game, the first thing I did was point the remote at the screen, expecting a cursor to appear indicating where I was pointing. I got nothing, so then I turned it on its side and tried using the d-pad instead. Again, nothing. Next, I moved the control stick on the nunchuck, and finally something moved. This is only a minor presentation flaw with this game, and it doesn’t get in the way too much, but I found it a bit strange considering that almost every other Wii game makes you point the Wiimote at the keyboard to use it.
Next, you’d expect to be taken to the game’s menu, but instead you go straight into quick play mode, where you can pick your teams and begin play. To access the menu, you either have to press + or B, and from there you’re left to adjust to the game’s awkward menu system. Again, you can’t point at anything so you have to use the nunchuck and press A on the Wiimote to access the different options.
The game also has a fairly decent soundtrack, with the exceptions of ‘Knocked Down’ by Pennywise, which was also in NHL 06 (and I’m personally very annoyed that it returned) and another song, ‘Bad Boys’ by Inner Circle, which doesn’t fit among the rest of the mostly metal soundtrack, and for some reason is this game’s fight song. The game’s sound effects are also very good, although some teams have inaccurate goal horns.
And speaking of sound, the commentary team of Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda of the San Jose Sharks really fit well, unlike in NHL 06 with the annoying voice of Jim Hughston and his partner Craig Simpson, which to this day owners of the PC versions of EA’s NHL games still have to put up with.
Gameplay
This game does have a nice range of game modes, including Quick Play, Franchise, and Season modes as well as Pond Hockey and Mini Rink, both of which you probably won’t pay much attention to. The Franchise mode is quite well built, but again navigating through the menus can be difficult at first. Unfortunately this game has no online mode unlike other versions of the game.
The controls in this game are pretty much spot on, and suit the game perfectly: you point at a team mate with the Wiimote and press A to pass, you flick the Wiimote for a wrist shot and you hold B while flicking the remote to pull off a slap shot. You can use the Wiimote to hook opposing players with the stick, and you can also swing the nunchuck to pull off a so-called ’special move’ with the puck, or slam other players. For the most part, the controls feel great, and unlike with NHL 06, scoring really is a “feel good” moment. Goals can occasionally be hard to come by, even on easy mode, so you’re not always beating the other team by 15 plus goals. In between periods you have the option of a Zamboni driving minigame, in which you have to clean the ice in a set amount of time. This is done by removing the nunchuck and holding the Wiimote on its side, tilting it to steer much like in Mario Kart Wii. You press 1 to accelerate and 2 for the brakes. You’d expect them to be the other way around, but there we go. You don’t really achieve anything from playing this minigame, other than Randy and Drew commenting on how you did afterwards.
My only complaints regarding the controls are the fighting and face-offs. As I mentioned earlier, there is no mention of the latter in the manual, so you’re left wondering what the hell you’re supposed to do when you get to that part of the game. As far as I’m aware for face-offs, you’re supposed to flick the Wiimote at the right time, and then… well, something. The fighting controls are shown on screen, but they’re really hard to master: you have to keep your balance by shaking the nunchuck, and you punch using the Wiimote. I’ve found that the controls for fighting are very unresponsive, so I’ve lost all but one of every single fight I’ve been in so far. I’ve seen at least one screenshot of the game where you have to punch with the nunchuck and balance with the Wiimote, which for whatever reason doesn’t occur in-game, though I can imagine that it works better.
There are also a number of odd glitches in the game, including one where you get permanently locked in a fight without the on ice officials coming in to separate the players, and the only way to stop it is the exit the game.
You can also create your own players and teams, however the only big restriction with the player creation is that, while you can change his skin tone and the like, you’re limited to a small number of facial appearances to choose from. When you create a team, all you have to do is enter the city, team name, abbreviation and select one out of about 100 odd-looking logos, and then copy players from the default NHL teams.
Graphics
This is one of the other few bad aspects of the game. While screenshots of the game don’t really do this game justice, making the game look really murky, I can’t exactly continue to defend it as the graphics aren’t really very good. The crowd is paper thin, the decals on the Zambonis are pixelated and the players look as though they’re wearing really skin tight jerseys. Looking at the jerseys up close they look quite good, although not so much with the white jerseys which all have a big black area underneath the armpits, which is supposedly shading. The player models look nothing like their real-life counterparts, and some of the animations are poor.
This is the one thing that annoys me about third party Wii games: while yes, the console is less powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3 and therefore can’t handle HD graphics, there are games that have very good graphics like Super Mario Galaxy. Third party developers are very lazy when it comes to this aspect of the game, and unfortunately, 2K Sports are no exception.
Lastability
The franchise mode gives the game some nice single player depth, and should keep you entertained for a long time. Pond Hockey and Mini Rink don’t really add much to multiplayer as you already have Quick Play for that. The lack of online mode is a bit disappointing…
Overall
It’s nice to see the NHL finally come back to a Nintendo console, and for those who have waited for the last three years, this game is a very nice treat as most of its aspects are superior to NHL 06. However, the game is flawed in places and there is still a lot of room for improvement, and a few bugs which need to be ironed out. Still, it’s a decent effort on 2K’s behalf, and definitely worthy of a purchase. Even if you already own another one of this year’s NHL games, I recommend checking it out anyway.
Rating: 6/10 – “Decent”
